Holidays for Indonesian Helpers ONLY?

My Indonesian helper asked me today if I would give her 8/17 and 8/21 off. She said there are holidays specifically for Indonesian helpers which helpers of other nationalities are not entitled to. I think they are PH in Indonesia.


Sounds a bit fishy. I thought I'm only required to give her statutory holidays and Sundays off.


A friend of mine also told me that you don't have to give any statutory holidays off until after they've worked for you for three months. Is it true?


Does anyone know where I can get a copy of an official statement somewhere off the internet so I can show her? I want to be fair, but at the same time don't want to be taken advantage of.


Thanks in advance.

This guide from the Immigration Dept has the information you are looking for.

http://www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/wcp/FDHguide.pdf


This Guide is also available in Indonesian, Tagalog and Thai and you can get it free of charge at the offices of Labour Relations Division of the Labour Department.


There are no Indonesian helper-only holidays. If she says otherwise, get her to provide the proof...


Regarding statutory holidays- if less than three months service, she is still entitled to the days off but there is no holiday pay.


From the Guide:

(Page 11)

All foreign domestic helpers, irrespective of their length of services, are entitled to the following 12 statutory holidays in a year –

The first day of January;

Lunar New Year’s Day;

The second day of Lunar New Year;

The third day of Lunar New Year;

Ching Ming Festival;

The first day of May;

Tuen Ng Festival;

The day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival;

Chung Yeung Festival;

Chinese Winter Solstice Festival or Christmas Day (at the option of

the employer);

The first day of July; and

The first day of October.


If the helper has been employed continuously by the employer for three months preceding any of these holidays, he/she is entitled to the holiday pay.

+++

But on a helper's salary it would be mean not to pay her, I think...

Thanks, Claire, the link is especially helpful.


geiboyi, I agree, and I wasn't planning to, but in this case, I think I might withold her holiday pay until the 3 month is up. She's worked in HK for many years and obviously knows what she's entitled. I think she's trying to test me (she's only worked for me for one month). Maybe this will make her think twice before trying something similar again.

Agree - it's quite naughty if she's been here long enough to know what she is entitled to. My first helper did the same - didn't turn up on a public (not statutory)holiday within a couple of months of starting with us - when I called her she said 'oh, um, er, yes, I'm sick. I'll be down in 10 minutes...'

wibb,

As a new employer of FDHs in HK you might also find these two other links helpful:

http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_5.5.htm

http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/faq_fdh.htm

August 17 is Independence Day.


August 21 is the ascension of Muhammad.


The first is hardly that important, just a celebration and an excuse to try to lift national pride. The second may be important for muslims but those I've worked with in quasi-non-Islamic countries haven't taken the day off work, they go to the mosque to pray.

well, I offered her 8/21 off instead of Sunday, but she decided she'd rather have Saturday off, so I guess it's not that important to her!


Also, I printed out pages from one of the links given by Claire where it says statutory holidays are only paid after three months and showed it to her. Funny thing is that if she hadn't tried to pull this off I would've paid her anyway, but now she loses pay for two holidays. Luck for her there aren't that many in her first three months.


thanks for all the feedbacks.